Mysterious blue "by-the-wind" sailors line California beaches

A close up of the creatures known as Velella velella, or by-the-wind sailors, after washing up on the beach in Carpinteria, California, driven by offshore winds.

These interesting creatures usually float along the surface far offshore but washed up along U.S. Pacific Coast beaches in late April and early May 2026. Not quite jellyfish, they're named velella velella, but are commonly called by-the-wind sailors.

These mysterious blue creatures known as by-the-wind sailors were turning up all along the Pacific coast from Washington to California in late April and early May 2026.

These mysterious blue creatures known as by-the-wind sailors were turning up along the Pacific coast, but especially dense in California, in late April and early May 2026.

A marbled godwit, a shorebird species, forages for food among a dense flotilla of the creatures known as Velella velella that washed up ashore in Santa Barbara County on April 23, 2026.

A marbled godwit shorebird forages for food among thousands of by-the-wind sailors that washed up ashore in Santa Barbara County.

A mixed flock of shorebirds forage along the shore amidst thousands of Velella velella, or by-the-wind sailors that washed up on the beaches of Santa Barbara County, California in April 2026.

A dead Velella velella sits in a tide pool in Pebble Beach, California on Aug. 26, 2014, after millions of the jellyfish-like creatures informally known as "by-the-wind sailors" washed up on Pacific Coast beaches.

These mysterious blue colonial organisms at Santa Claus Beach lined the coast in Santa Barbara County, California on April 3, 2026.

A close up of the indigo blue by-the-wind sailors washing up on beaches along the U.S. Pacific coast on April 23, 2026.

Two shorebirds, a willet and a marbled godwit, forage along the beach in between thousands of by-the-wind sailors, also known as Velella velella, that had washed up on the beaches of Santa Barbara County, California on April 23, 2026.